382 



new genera, some of which might have to be sunk when additional material 

 is available. The Australian species number 213, and fall into ten subgenera. 

 Reference is made to the Austro-Malayan species', and several species refer- 

 able to genera treated of in Part I are proposed as new. — Mr. A. Basset 

 Hull communicated a Note on an exhibit of a series of eggs of the Silver 

 Gull [Larus novae hollandiae Stephens) from the gull rookery at Montague 

 Island, displaying two striking mutations in colour. The normal egg is very 

 variable in the shade of the ground-colour, and the markings also vary con- 

 siderably; but from pale olive-green to deep olive-brown, slightly to heavily 

 streaked or blotched with blackish-brown markings, will do for a general 

 description. The two abnormal varieties exhibited were (A.) uniform pale 

 blue, without any trace of markings: (B. 1) glossy white, faintly blotched 

 with pale red and purplish-red suffused markings and a few dull red spots, 

 distributed over the whole shell; (B. 2) creamy-white, blotched with purplish- 

 red suffused markings, and larger dull red spots and markings, distributed 

 over the whole shell. Such striking departures from the normal colour have 

 not previously been recorded. — Mr. Che el communicated a Note on an 

 exhibit of a series of specimens illustrating the habits and depredations of a 

 leaf-cutting bee [Megachile sp.), and of two pollen-collecting bees [Podalirius 

 cingulatus Fabr., and Sar apoda bombiformis Smith). The contents of a nest 

 in the ground, comprising a good handful of oblong or roundish pieces of 

 the foliage of Laburnum vulgare collected by the Megachile were shown; and 

 also a branch of Solanum xanthocarpum from a plant which used to fruit 

 freely, but which in recent years has borne no fruit, apparently through being 

 deprived of pollen by the operations of the pollen-collecting bees. — 

 Mr. G od dard exhibited an interesting series of freshwater crustaceans, in- 

 cluding species of Anaspides and Phreatoicus, from ponds on Mount Wel- 

 lington and Mount Ben Lomond, Tasmania; and examples of freshwater 

 leeches (Glossiphonia) from Tasmania and New South Wales. — Mr. Fred 

 Turner communicated a Note on an exhibit of botanical specimens com- 

 prising Salicornia tenuis ~Benïh.., a native saltbush forwarded from Wongalea 

 Station, Gunbar District, with the report that it had recently sprung up, 

 covering an area of six hundred acres; Grevillea arenaria B.Br., var. canes- 

 cens, from the Bathurst district, where it was said to be greedily eaten by 

 sheep; and Pa,nicum tenuissinium Benth., collected at Rose Bay, Sydney, 

 the most southerly station so far recorded for this grass. — The Secretary, 

 on behalf of Dr. T. L. Bancroft of Brisbane, exhibited a named collection 

 of Queensland mosquitoes, comprising representatives of twenty-four out of 

 the thirty-two species described in the recently published »List of the Mos- 

 quitoes of Queensland, etc.« (Annals of the Queensland Museum, No. 8. 

 1908); and he stated that, at Dr. Bancroft's request, the specimens were 

 to be presented to the Macleay Museum, to supplement the collection which 

 the late Mr. Skuse had studied. 



Abstract of Proceedings, May 27 th, 1908. — 1) The Behaviour of Hyla 

 aurea to Strychnine. By H. G. Chapman, M.D., B.S., Demonstrator of 

 Physiology in the Unversity of Sydney. The common Australian frog Hyla 

 aurea has been noted not infrequently to be much less susceptible to the 

 poisonous alkaloid strychnine than European frogs of the genus liana. The 

 minimal lethal dose for various species of Rana has been measured by nume- 

 rous observers; and there seems to be general agreement that it may be said 



